This is an attempt to unravel the facts & the many varied & changing claims surrounding the death, abduction or dissapearance of Madeleine McCann aged 3, whilst on holiday with her parents and younger siblings in Portugal, on the night of 07-May-2007, to try to establish the truth.

The gist of the latest statement from the Met police in London in their investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann sounded remarkably similar to what has long been in the public domain, but the so-called ‘quality’ press, along with the tabloids, churned it out as if it were a hot “new lead” and even “a breakthrough”.

The statement appealed for further information on “a potential linked series of twelve crimes which occurred between 2004 and 2010, mostly in low season, whereby a male intruder gained access to mainly holiday villas occupied by UK families on holiday in the Western Algarve”.

In four of the cases, the intruder is alleged to have sexually assaulted five white girls, aged between seven and 10, in their beds. Senior ex-police officers, led by former detective inspector Dave Edgar and hired by parents Kate and Gerry, looked into sexual attacks on at least five English girls between 2004 and 2007. Their findings were described in some detail by the News of the World in May 2009.

Kate McCann also wrote about the assaults in her book published in May 2012: “One of the most concerning and upsetting pieces of information to emerge quite early was the record of sexual crimes against children in the Algarve. This discovery made me feel physically sick. I read of five cases of British children on holiday being sexually abused in their beds while their parents slept in another room. In three further incidents, children encountered an intruder in their bedrooms, who was presumably disturbed before he had the chance to carry out an assault.” Yet even The Times last week felt moved to report that “A sex attacker who preyed on young British girls holidaying with their families on the Algarve is a key suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann seven years ago, police said today.”

Other “key” suspects over the past few months have ranged from Gypsies, Germans and East Europeans to burglars and British cleaners, but according to the latest Met statement, witnesses described the supposedly lone sex attacker as “having dark (as in tanned skin) with short dark unkempt hair”.

The Met did not identify the latest “key” suspect, but a headline in the Guardian the day after the Met appeal read: “Madeleine McCann suspect died in 2009.” It called this a “revelation” gleaned from “a source close to Portuguese investigators.” We had read it all before, of course. Early last November, the Daily Mail, among many other papers, named and carried a photograph of a 40-year-old black African, saying the Portuguese police believed he may have killed Madeleine two years before he died in a tractor accident.

This disclosure came soon after all the BBC Crimewatch fuss over new e-fit images that turn out not be new at all, depicting a man who certainly did not look like a black African. The Guardian’s source said the dead man had been at the centre of Portuguese police inquiries since they reopened the case last October, but they had not drawn any definite conclusions about him.

He “could” have been involved in the five assaults on white girls – and even the disappearance of Madeleine – but it was no more than a “possibility”, the source said. The Guardian also ran a story last week headlined: “Madeleine McCann: a breakthrough that could be devastating.” It did not mean devastating to the widow of the smeared African, a man with no record of child molestation and no opportunity to defend himself. The Guardian explained that by identifying a series of sex attacks, the Met Police had made a breakthrough in its investigation, but that based on similar cases, “it could mean an end to hopes that Madeleine is alive”. It is a hope many have long abandoned. Even Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, the senior British investigating officer, has conceded she may have died in the apartment. Portuguese detectives and prosecutors, as well as specialist British investigators and a British police dog handler, came to that conclusion years ago.

The former lead detective in the original Portugal investigation, Gonçalo Amaral, reiterated in a recent interview his firm belief that Madeleine died in the apartment the same day or night she disappeared. He claimed his investigation was marred by high-level political involvement, which left DNA samples untested and key witnesses overlooked.

Amaral and his many supporters completely reject the notion that Madeleine was abducted – and, indeed, there is no hard evidence to support this theory. In using the term ‘abduction’ or ‘kidnapping’ of Madeleine McCann, the mainstream media rarely qualify this assertion with words such as ‘alleged’, ‘possible’ or ‘suspected’.

Nor were such words used when Redwood said last week: “The Metropolitan Police Service continues to offer a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for the abduction of Madeleine McCann from Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007.”

Twenty thousand pounds! It’s a far cry from the £2.5 million reward offered within days of Madeleine’s disappearance, and a drop in the ocean compared to the millions Kate and Gerry have since received in donations on top of the amount the Met has spent so far in its fruitless search.

Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in 2007: police have classed 38 people as “persons of interest” to the inquiry. Photograph: Everton FC/PA

Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann from a Portuguese holiday resort nearly seven years ago say a lone intruder sexually assaulted five girls aged between seven and 10 in the Algarve between 2004 and 2006.

The four incidents – one involving two girls – were among 12 over six years up to 2010 being examined by officers in which a man entered holiday accommodation, mainly villas occupied by British families.

In six of those incidents, the man, said to be dark-haired and tanned, sat on the victims’ beds. In nine of the 12 incidents there was no evidence of forced entry or property taken. In three others there was “low-level” theft involving cash or phones. Police said he appeared to have “a very, very, unhealthy interest” in young white girls.

The man, said to be unshaven with unkempt hair, spoke English slowly, with a foreign accent, possibly with slurred speech. Some witnesses suggested he had a pot belly while three victims suggested he had a distinctive smell, one involving aftershave, another tobacco while a third just described “a funny smell”.

However, no children were abducted.

Detectives said there had been an increase in criminality and burglary in Praia da Luz that peaked in April 2007, shortly before Madeleine’s disappearance.

Scotland Yard also revealed it was looking at 38 “people of interest” in relation to her disappearance, having dismissed 22 others from that category. They were also trying to find out more about 530 known sex offenders – 59 regarded as of high interest – across Europe.

However Portugal’s Polícia Judiciária (PJ) claimed that Wednesday’s press conference simply confirmed a primary line of investigation which has been investigated by Portuguese police since last October. Suggestions that the information released by the Met had initially been discounted by Portuguese detectives were denied by a source at the PJ’s headquarters in Lisbon.

He said that evidence of a string of crimes had been the driving force behind Portuguese officials re-opening the case. “It is all there in the police case files,” said the source. “You will see when it is made public.”

Madeleine’s parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, have been informed of the latest developments.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCann family, told the BBC: “Kate and Gerry still believe that Madeleine is alive and out there to be found, and that is why they are so pleased that the British police are doing such a good job on this.”

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, in charge of the hunt for Madeleine, accepted there were differences between these cases and that of Madeleine’s disappearance but added that there was a possibility that she had not left her family’s holiday apartment alive when she disappeared in May 2007.

In most cases now being examined, the incidents happened between 2am and 5am – later than in the disappearance of Madeleine, then aged three, from a ground floor apartment at the Ocean Club complex in Praia da Luz while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

Redwood said the assumption that Madeleine was abducted “may not follow with all our thinking” on the case.

“These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our inquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine’s disappearance,” he said.

“If you have been a victim of a similar crime please come forward even if you reported the incident to police in Portugal, or anywhere else, please do not assume we have been made aware of it.”

There was also a “very close resonance” to some features of Madeleine’s disappearance, said Redwood.

“We really need to identify the offender, to bring to a close the trauma and the tragedy that these families have suffered, and then seek to establish whether this is connected to Madeleine’s disappearance.”

He appealed for information and gave details of a distinctive burgundy long-sleeved top the attacker was said to have worn during two attacks – in the resort areas of Vale de Parra and Praia da Gale. On one occasion it was described as having a white circle on the back.

The appeal will also be made via BBC’s Crimewatch on Wednesday night.

Redwood said if names were put forward for the most serious case of sexual assault, his team would be able to eliminate them from inquiries, suggesting the police may have DNA evidence.

Nine of the 12 incidents were reported to Portuguese police at the time but British investigators learned of three only when the victims came forward in response to televised appeals last autumn.

In the attacks, the suspect may have been in the villa or looking around the villa for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent coming in, or the child waking up, say police. On two occasions the noise of a refuse collection lorry could be heard nearby.

Of the 12 offences being investigated, four took place in Carvoeiro, six in Vale da Parra, Praia da Gale district, and two in Praia da Luz. Detectives have previously suggested Madeleine may have been abducted in a planned operation that had included individuals exploring the resort beforehand.

Scotland Yard issued efit images in October last year of a possible suspect with dark hair reportedly seen carrying a child with blond hair and possibly wearing pyjamas. The publication of the pictures on Crimewatch led to a huge response by the public and this man has still not been excluded from the police inquiry.

Efits of two fair-haired men seen near the McCanns’ apartment were also released and police in the UK and Portugal have also been investigating break-ins around the resort, one of which occurred the same week a year before Madeleine disappeared and involved a man who entered a flat where young children were sleeping.

Fresh appeals were also made in Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany.

Scotland Yard has indicated its irritation with the slowness of the formal legal process that would allow its officers to work on the ground in Portugal. The Crown Prosecution Service has three so-called letters of request being considered by the country’s legal system, among 33 from Britain on the case now being sent or prepared to be dispatched across Europe.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said: “I am frustrated the legal process is as slow as it is.” But he maintained: “We are seeing an increase in the tempo of the investigation.”

Scotland Yard says officers involved in the case have made 26 “strategic and tactical” visits to Portugal as well as travelling to Spain, Belgium, Jersey, Switzerland, Holland and Germany as well as working with colleagues across the UK. Police are asking members of the public with information to call them on 0800 0961011 within the UK. The number for non-UK residents is +44 207 1580 126. Callers can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

• This article was amended on 21 March 2014. The earlier version stated that Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood had said the assumption that Madeleine had been alive when she left the apartment “may not follow with all our thinking” on the case. To clarify: those quoted words actually came after Redwood had referred to the assumption that Madeleine had been abducted. However, Redwood did say during the same press conference that police were considering the possibility that Madeleine was not alive when taken from the apartment as well as the possibility that she was.

This would neither seem to confirm nor conclude that Madeleine was abducted and there is still, it seems, absolutely no evidence indicating that Madeleine McCann was either abducted or the latest Police scenario is other than very speculative.

It is known that the alleged possible perpetrator cited is now dead and there is no evidence to indicate he may have been in the area on the night on since which Madeleine has been missing.

Still the most likely scenario is that Madeleine accidentally died in the appartment and due to the incredible level of negligence on the part of her parents, both Doctors who would have been well aware of the risks of leaving 3 babes of this age unattended and alone, they felt both that if such negligence was ever shown to be the cause of the death not only would they face the opprobrium of family and friends but may well be held accountable by the Courts, that said either way their careers wouyld be irrevocably damaged.

In fact, whether Madeleine died accidentally or at the hands of an unknown (unidentified) third party; or if the parents are to be believed, in the light of the various conflicting stories they have put forward together with many glaring examples of refusal to assist the police inquiry,; she died as a result of their having failed to secure the property when they abandoned the children alone to go off carousing at a local taverna with friends.

A taverna which was some 90 meters away and far beyond sight or hearing of the flat in which they had left their 3 babes unattended. A taverna where the group, of which they were a part, consumed a notable amount of alcohol and where, it would seem, irresponsibility and laxity in terms of the parental duty of care was astonishingly considered acceptable, on a daily basis!

If this scenario was true then what more natural than Kate & Gerry McCann, both doctors trained to deal with deathin the every day course of their lives, would set out to cover-up their guilt, in what to many may seem an incredible act of self preservation.

Sadly, if Madeleine died, however it may have happened, the disposal of the body of a three year old would not be difficult at their location at the time.

Whatever the scenario or cause of Madeleine’s disappearance it is undeniable that the admitted negligence of her parents was not just a major contributory cause but most clearly the action which facilitated that disappearance.

UK police in Madeleine McCann case probe new intruder link

Kate and Gerry McCann pose with a computer generated image of how their missing daughter Madeleine might look now, during a news conference in London May 2, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Andrew Winning

(Reuters) – British detectives investigating the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann said they were looking for a man suspected of carrying out a series of sexual assaults on young girls staying in Portuguese holiday villas between 2004 and 2010.

McCann, then aged three, went missing from her bedroom at the Praia da Luz holiday resort in the Algarve region while her parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant, leading to a global search that gripped the world’s media.

London police, who started a review of the case in 2011 and began their own investigation last year, said on Wednesday they were looking for more information about 12 crimes committed in Portuguese holiday resorts.

In four cases between 2004 and 2006 a man sexually assaulted five white girls, aged between 7 and 10 years, in their beds, in three different Algarve resorts, police said. Two of the 12 offences were committed in Praia da Luz.

The man, described as being tanned with short, dark, unkempt hair, spoke English with a foreign accent and would appear early in the morning. In some incidents, he was disturbed and left.

“This an offender who has got a very, very unhealthy interest in young, white female children who he’s attacking while they’re on holiday in their beds,” Redwood said.

“ALL OPTIONS” OPEN

Redwood said the new appeal for information on the man who carried out the attacks was just one of the “priority lines” of inquiry currently being pursued. British police are also in contact with their counterparts in Spain, Belgium, Jersey, Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany over the case.

British Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a new investigation by London police after the McCanns wrote to him three years ago saying neither British nor Portuguese authorities had done enough to try to find their daughter.

Redwood said McCann might have long been dead.

“There is always the potential that she didn’t leave the apartment alive. What is important for us to do is consider all the options,” he said.

Madeleine McCann: Police hunt sex attacker

UK police probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann are seeking an intruder who sexually abused five girls in Portugal between 2004 and 2006.

Detectives say the attacks happened in holiday villas occupied by UK families in the Algarve.

The man, described as tanned with dark hair, is suspected of breaking in to 12 properties from 2004 to 2010.

Madeleine was three when she went missing from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve, in May 2007.

The five girls – aged between seven and 10 – were sexually assaulted in their beds.

On one of these occasions, the man assaulted two girls in one villa.

‘Serious offences’

Det Ch Insp Andy Redwood said the man had an “unhealthy interest in young white female children” – and tracing him was a priority.

“We need to establish the identity of this man,” DCI Redwood said.

Two families said the intruder had worn a distinctive burgundy long-sleeved top

“These offences are very serious and no one has been charged in connection with them. We also need to eliminate this man from our enquiries and ascertain whether these offences are linked to Madeleine’s disappearance.”

Police said the man was bare-chested in some of the attacks, and some witnesses said he had a pot belly. Three victims said he had a “noticeable odour”.

Two of the families said the intruder had worn a distinctive burgundy long-sleeved top, and one family said the top had a white circle on the back.

The man was said to have spoken English slowly, with a foreign accent.

While not identical, many aspects of the sexual assaults were similar, police said.

In most of the cases, the intruder appeared in the early hours of the morning and there were no signs of forced entry to the properties.

The suspect may have been in the villa or looking around for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed, either by a parent coming in or the child waking up, officers said.

He remained calm even when disturbed, they added.

The incidents had previously been discounted by Portuguese investigators because they were spread over a wide geographical area and there had been no apparent attempts at abduction.

DCI Andy Redwood says he needs to hear from other families who may have been affected

Four of the 12 break-ins took place in Carvoeiro, two in Praia da Luz – where the McCanns had been staying – and six in Vale da Parra and Praia da Gale.

There are currently 38 people classed as “persons of interest” linked with the inquiry into Madeleine’s disappearance.

“We know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process,” he said.

Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for the McCann family, said: “Kate and Gerry still believe that Madeleine is alive and out there to be found, and that is why they are so pleased that the British police are doing such a good job on this.”

The five vulnerable youngsters, aged seven to 10, were victims of sexual attacks between 2004 and 2006 carried out by a lone intruder known to the authorities.

Yet amazingly, despite the series of sickening assaults, it emerged that blundering Portuguese police ruled out the prolific pervert in the hunt for Madeleine.

The latest breakthrough in the case only came when Scotland Yard detectives connected the suspect with three incidents which were reported to them following a fresh appeal for information last year.

British detectives revealed today they are now focusing on the man who is suspected of 12 Algarve holiday homes break-ins between 2004 and 2010, including Praia da Luz, wherethree-year-old Madeleine went missingin 2007.

They described in chilling detail how the Algarve sex attacker would sit on the children’s beds or crawl under the covers with them, and stayed calm even when disturbed.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood said: “This man has a very unhealthy interest in young, white, female children who he is attacking whilst they are on holiday in their beds.

“In six of the 12 potentially linked offences the suspect either sat or lay on the bed, before committing the sexual assault in four of those cases.”

A total of nine out of 12 break-ins carried out by the
man were known to Portuguese investigators.
However, they considered the incidents too spread
out to be linked to Madeleine’s disappearance –
despite taking place around an hour’s car journey
away from Praia da Luz.

They also ruled out the suspect because there were no apparent attempts of abducting the young girls.

Three other British families later contacted the police following the televised appeal on the BBC’s Crimewatch show last October.

Two of the break-ins were in Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was staying with her family at the Ocean Club resort.

Six were in Valle de Parra whilst another four were in the resort of Carvoeiro, the two resorts where police say the more serious of the sexual assaults occurred.

The suspect is described as being tanned with dark-hair, smelling of cigarettes and aftershave, who spoke English slowly with a foreign accent.

He was sometimes bare chested, some described him as having a pot belly, and three victims said that he had a noticeable odour.

The police have been told by at least two of the families that bin-men and bin-lorries were in the street during the break-ins.

In some of the attacks he was wearing a distinctive burgundy, long-sleeved top, possibly with a white circle on the back.

In most cases there were no signs of forced entry to the properties, nothing was taken, and the intruder appeared in the early hours of the morning between 2am and 5am.

This increases suspicions that the reasons for the intruder’s break-ins was sexually motivated.

The suspect may have been in the properties or looking around the properties for some time before committing the offences or being disturbed either by a parent, or the child waking up.

Scene: Praia da Luz apartment where Maddie was taken from

Critics of the Portuguese investigation claim their failures mean they missed a vital window of opportunity to find Madeleine.

Former Met Police DCI Peter Kirkham said: “Right from the very start, the Portuguese police should have been considering sexually-motivated abduction as a possibility.

“I find it quite extraordinary that potential links with this series of offences were not made previously.”

It comes three years after Kate McCann wrote in her book, called “Madeleine”, that a series of sex attacks on British youngsters was not properly investigated by the Portuguese authorities.

She said the crimes had been “brushed under the carpet”.

When asked during a press conference at Scotland Yard today if the suspect was the same person described in Kate’s book, Mr Redwood simply replied: “Yes.”

Mr Redwood added: “While I accept there are differences between the break-ins and the McCann case, there is no abduction that we can see, but the assumption from that is that Madeleine McCann has been abducted.

“That may not necessarily follow with all our thinking about what may have become of Madeleine. It is really critical for us to identify this offender and prove or disprove whether he was involved in her disappearance.”

Detectives working on Operation Grange – a review into the circumstances of Madeleine’s disappearance – are in possession of the DNA of the intruder following one of his attacks.

They are also sifting through the details of 530 known sex offenders whose whereabouts they cannot account for on the day Madeleine went missing.

Mr Redwood’s team has previously appealed for help identifying a man who was seen carrying a child towards the sea on the night Madeleine vanished. So far they have not been able to eliminate the sighting of the man from their inquiry.

PA

Missing: Maddie

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said he was frustrated at how slow the legal process has been in Portugal.

He added: “That’s causing us frustration because we know what we want to do and we are ready to go with that. But the process is the process.”

Asked how he was getting on with his Portuguese counterparts, Mr Redwood merely shook his head in despair and took another question at the packed press conference in London.

Another 30 letters asking for assistance with the inquiry have been written to other European countries, but the force would not reveal where.

Kate and Madeleine’s father Gerry believe “fervently” that their daughter is still alive and can be found, family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said today.

He added: “Kate and Gerry feel Scotland Yard’s new appeal will lead to the breakthrough that everybody wants.

“They are grateful to everyone who has come forward with information and are now urging anybody else who sees this new appeal and who feels something similar has happened to them in the Algarve to come forward.”

A senior Portuguese police source said officers from the Policia Judicial were said to be “furious” with the Met and said the three UK letters of request have mentioned nothing about the new suspect.

The senior officer said: “The Metropolitan police today, in a press conference, haven’t done anything but reveal the line of investigation discovered by the Portuguese team working on the review of the case, led by Helena Monteiro, which gave the basis to reopen the inquiry in Portugal.”

Maddie. PJ warns English that they don’t want to see the investigation in the newspapers

by Carlos Diogo Santospublished on 3 Mar 2014 – 05:00

The PJ inspectors stress that within “international cooperation there is no room for states of mind”

The different communication strategies between the Portuguese and the British authorities within the Maddie case are bothering the PJ. The discomfort has gone far enough for the PJ to warn the Metropolitan Police that it refuses to carry out the investigation through the papers. Since the English police decided to perform its own investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the English press has been frequently revealing information about the ongoing diligences. Much of these news turned out to be unfounded, further pushing away the possibility of cooperation with the PJ. At stake is equally the fact that both police forces have different investigation lines and also opposite communication policies, some inspectors, who prefer not to be identified, confirmed to i.

According to sources that know the process, the PJ has already informed its British counterparts that it “wants to continue to run its investigation within the process and not in the newspapers”. A call to attention in order to clarify that they don’t want English police sources commenting on supposed facts of the Portuguese investigation. Even because, they say, it is something that the British ignore. In Portugal, an investigation is being led by a team from Oporto, but it’s been officers from the PJ in Portimão that have been replying to the rogatory letters that were sent by the English, which is to say, the requests for assistance to the London investigation.

The strategy of the Portuguese – not to render information about their investigation public – was already known by the British, but some news quoting anonymous sources within the Metropolitan Police forced this warning. “The PJ will continue with the necessary discretion, which is known to its British counterpart. The media is out of our equation during the investigation. And if it was never said that there are suspects it’s because there is nothing strong enough”, a police source clarified.

Just last week an article was published in Portugal reporting that the English had received a secret dossier from the Judiciária, concerning burglars that lived in the Algarve and could even have already committed crimes against children. To i, the same source assures that the information is false: “No secret dossier whatsovere was handed over to the Metropolitan Police.” Another person that is close to the process explained that what the English called a secret dossier may simply be the list of persons with a criminal record that resided close to Praia da Luz, which the PJ sent within the fulfilment of a rogatory letter.

Over recent months, the English media reported every Scotland Yard suspect, published e-fits from the police – which i revealed were made by detectives that were being paid by the child’s parents after all – and publicised the sending of the three rogatory letters from the English investigators before the Portuguese authorities knew about those requests for international assistance.

A reconstitution of the evening of the crime was made – which was not filmed in Portugal – and broadcast in England, Germany and Holland. After the “thousands of leads” that the Metropolitan Police told the media had been received following the television shows’ broadcast, the strategy remains focused on tracing mobile phones of people that were near the Ocean Club resort on the evening of the 3rd of May of 2007, the day that the child went missing.

For the PJ officers that were contacted by i, this kind of behaviour won’t have an effect on the cooperation between both police forces. “The rogatories will be carried out in the most committed way possible, because within international cooperation there is no room for states of mind”, a PJ source concluded.